On Famous Last Words

When Pancho Villa was assassinated in 1923, he is reported to have died saying to his (useless) bodyguard (in Spanish), "Don't tell them it ended like this. Tell them I said something." This might be the cockiest thing any man has ever said.

I'm sure someone has said something inherently cockier. "I am a golden god," popularly attributed to Robert Plant after the based-on-a-true-story looseness of Almost Famous, certainly comes to mind. However, if Villa really said this, it meant he was consciously aware that he was nothing but a man, far less than what his image made him out to be. Hell, even El Che died saying (again in Spanish), "Shoot, coward! You are only going to kill a man." Even he knew he was superfluous to the cause. Villa was just like, "Oh, snap, I'm important. Make sure I don't look like a bitch when I'm gone."

Granted, the dude was assassinated in what was widely believed to be a conspiracy. In fact, that's probably true since by all reports Villa would have died instantly from nine bullet wounds to his head and chest.

Image used in non-profit fair-use
courtesy of Wondermark.